


Why Drosophila Melanogaster Buzz In People’s Ears

by Merkwerkee



Series: Joe's Diner [2]
Category: Masters of the Metaverse
Genre: Joe's Diner
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-23
Updated: 2020-02-23
Packaged: 2021-02-28 03:42:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22857202
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merkwerkee/pseuds/Merkwerkee
Summary: Aw gnats
Series: Joe's Diner [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1643167





	Why Drosophila Melanogaster Buzz In People’s Ears

There’s something off in Joe’s Diner today.

Hollywood couldn’t rightly say what it was, but there was a persistent something that was putting everyone on edge. Longtime patrons with whom he’d never had a problem before were snappish and rude, and Hollywood’d walked more plates of food back to Cook in the kitchen today than he had in literal centuries. People were quibbling over their bills - _no_ , the exchange rate for S'mlith shells wasn’t steady but prices were as marked and there was no senior discount.

The franchises that stood empty were almost worse. Without the chatter of people, the silence itself turned oppressive and reproachful. The buzz of the overhead fluorescent lights didn’t fill the silence, merely enhanced it and grated at his nerves today and Hollywood couldn’t figure out why. In a fit of pique he’d gone through and replaced all the bulbs with Cook’s help. Well, he’d mostly supervised Cook replacing the bulbs, truth to tell, but the new ones had hummed in just the same wrong frequency as the old ones did.

The foreboding didn’t make any sense; Milkshake’s lot were off doing things for Rhodes with their associated tagalongs, and there was nothing more apocalyptic than usual in the works. Still, there was something lingering. Something that spoke of terrible things that could not, should not be in whispers just beyond the range of hearing. What made it even more maddening was that no matter where Hollywood was, what branch and basic shape, he couldn’t hear anything clearly. Switching to a franchise that existed entirely as a line clarified nothing, and switching to a storefront that existed in six dimensions and whose normal clientele could detect the entire electromagnetic spectrum and some besides didn’t help either.

Still, he couldn’t spend the entire (relative) day tracking down what was going on. Especially not with whole houses of people waiting just around the corner for their food and drinks. Especially because it looked like one of the rowdier tables had started a food fight. “Alright, that is _enough!_ ” Hollywood roared as he turned to the table, a french fry slathered in secret sauce flying past his nose. Dealing with the idiots didn’t take long, but left a sour taste in his mouth. People generally were better behaved than _this_ , what the _hell_ was going on?

Something brushed his face.

Hollywood slapped himself out of reflex, startling a laugh from the table he’d been passing. After mentally making a note to upcharge that group, he looked at his hand. The tiny, tiny body of a fruit fly met his eyes, and he realized that the noise he’d been hearing had faded almost completely. He stared hard at it for a second or two, then wiped his hand on his pants before going to wash.

“Dammit, Cook, what’d I say about taking out the garbage!”


End file.
